Sports

Wednesday, August 16, 2000

Eagles sweep OHS, Alpine in openers

PECOS, Aug. 16, 2000 -- The 2000
volleyball season started on a high note for the Pecos Eagles on Tuesday
in Odessa, as they swept a pair of matches from the Alpine Bucks and Odessa
High Bronchos.

The Eagles were able to pull away late from Alpine in their first game
of the night, winning 15-11, then controlled things for most of their final
three games, finishing off the Bucks, 15-8, then downing the host Bronchos
by 15-4, 15-6 scores.

The Eagles trailed only twice on the night, falling behind Alpine by
a 6-4 score, while Odessa High scored the first three points of their
match against Pecos. But the Eagles would rally for a 7-6 lead over the
Bucks, and then after Alpine tied the game one more time, ran off five
straight points and then maintained their lead the rest of the way.

In the second game, the Eagles jumped out to a 5-0 lead, then
were up by as much as a 12-3 margin after Alpine cut the lead to 5-2 at one point.

"All of our mistakes were we let the ball drop on defense or we hit
the ball out," said coach Veronica Valenzuela, who was
again substituting for head coach Becky Granado, whose father is in an
Odessa hospital. "We played them before we played Odessa High, and we
picked it up against Odessa High."

Against OHS, the Eagles trailed 4-2 when the ran off the final 13
points of Game 1, then raced out to a 9-1 lead in Game 2 against the
Bronchos, who lost earlier in the day to Alpine by 16-14, 15-10 scores.

Valenzuela said Philly Fobbs had five kills and two blocks
against Alpine, while Ashley Salcido, Alexa Marquez and D'Andra Ortega
also came up with kills in the win over the Bucks, and Becky Dominguez
added a pair of ace serves.

The wins gave the Eagles a sweep of their season-opening matches
for the first time in three years, going into this weekend's Monahans
Sandhills Tournament. The Eagles had split each of the past two seasons,
losing to Alpine while defeating Odessa High.

Pecos will open play in Monahans on Friday at 10:30 a.m. against
either Andrews or El Paso Bowie, and will play again at either 2:15 p.m. in
the loser's bracket of the double-elimination tournament, or at 5:30
p.m. against either the host Loboes, Big Spring or defending District
2-4A champion Clint.

Pecos' junior varsity, meanwhile, dropped both of their
season openers, losing to Alpine, 15-13, 15-8, and falling to OHS, 15-7, 15-9.

No scores were available for the Eagles' season-opening
freshmen matches on Tuesday.

Grand jury may hear Irvin case

FORT WORTH, Aug. 16, 2000 (AP) — A grand jury could review evidence against
former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin, who was arrested at
an apartment where law officers say they found marijuana and other drugs.

The Denton County district attorney's office will
determine whether to prosecute Irvin, the FBI said Tuesday.

"If they send it up here, we are going to review it just like any
other case," he said.

But FBI special agent Lori Bailey and Henry said the case is not on
a fast track.

"We are not accelerating our efforts to expedite this matter,"
Bailey said. "It will pass through our system like any other investigation."

Two days after arresting Irvin and a woman at the north
Dallas apartment, members of a drug task force announced they would not
seek marijuana charges against Irvin. He had been arrested on
investigation of misdemeanor marijuana possession.

"It becomes a local prosecutive matter," Bailey said.

Authorities said they found less than two ounces of marijuana
along with ecstasy pills.

A drug task force had a warrant for the apartment's tenant, who
was not there. Instead, Irvin and the tenant's sister were at the apartment.

"We had been over there one other time," said Bailey. "We did
not know that Michael Irvin had ever been there."

Apartment tenant Ronda Adham, who is also identified as
Rhonda Adaham on some official documents, was arrested by task force agents
on Aug. 10 in a Dallas suburb. She was indicted on federal drug
trafficking charges in 1999 and had violated conditions of her pretrial release.

Adham was part of a group accused of selling the heroin
that killed Mark Tuinei of the Dallas Cowboys last year, according
to published reports.

Earlier reports also said that a substance that appeared to
be cocaine had been found in the apartment where Irvin was arrested.

Irvin in 1996 had pleaded no contest to felony cocaine
possession in exchange for four years of deferred probation, a $10,000 fine and
dismissal of misdemeanor marijuana possession charges.